Women, who under strict restrictions could not easily be treated by male doctors, can now have access to health care. It comes after years of suffering some of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world.

Nail varnish and lipstick have resurfaced from the back of women's drawers, and are being worn by women who no longer need a man to accompany their trips beyond their front door.

But they do not want to be forgotten on the political front, and are pushing for a say in the shaping of a proposed broad-based government.

Women have played an important role in Afghan society and politics in the past, having had the vote and having occupied 15 percent of all legislative posts in 1977, the United Nations point out.

Women also held 70 percent of teachers' jobs up to the early 1990s as well as 50 percent of government jobs and 40 percent of medical posts.

Angela King, special adviser on gender issues and advancement of women at the United Nations, said: "Women were professors, lawyers and judges. They were journalists, writers and poets."

Groups, such as the Afghanistan Women's Council in Peshawar and the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, have existed in Pakistan to fight for their role.

The women's cause is backed by the United Nations and the exiled former Afghan King Zahir Shah who have both said women should have a voice.

A U.N. resolution on Afghanistan agreed on November 14 said it supports a "broad-based, multi-ethnic government, fully representative of all the Afghan people," which should respect the human rights of all the Afghan people "regardless of gender, ethnicity or religion."

King added: "Our interest today is to ensure that this energy and concern will be harnessed towards convincing negotiators and leaders of Afghan factions alike of the benefits of including Afghan women as full partners in the decision-making process around the peace table, in humanitarian efforts and in reconstruction of the country."

She called on donor governments to insist that gender is "mainstreamed as a prerequisite for aid."